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Seattle Hempfest is the largest annual political gathering in support of harm reduction and drug policy reform -- the world's biggest pot rally.

Seattle Hempfest is held the third weekend in August. Next year's event is August 15-16, 2009 at Myrtle Edwards Park on the beautiful Seattle waterfront, just north of Pier 70.

Event hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday.

Admission to Seattle Hempfest is free.

We feature five stages with a wide variety of entertainment and education. Past performers include Kottonmouth Kings, Source Of Labor, Los Marijuanos, Prezident Brown, our house band the Herbivores, Fishbone, Gruntruck, Children Of The Revolution, The Toyes, Second Coming and 7 Year Bitch. Past speakers include Woody Harrelson, travel show host Rick Steves, former all-pro Dallas Cowboy Mark Stepnoski, author and columnist Ed Rosenthal, Libertarian Party Presidential candidate Michael Badneric, former Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic, NORML founder Keith Stroup and the Hemperor himself, Jack Herer.

The event features hundreds of vendors -- the perfect place to snag summer dresses and stylie threads, get new glass, dig on some grubbin' munchies, and generally hempify your life.

Hempfest is powered by an all volunteer staff. One thousand volunteers are needed week-of, with 100 core members working year 'round to pull off the massive endeavor. None of us are paid, and neither are the bands and speakers. We do this because we believe strongly that cannabis hemp is a healing plant and can contribute to a future based on respect for the earth and its inhabitants. We believe drugs and drug dependency are issues of public health, not criminal justice. We believe the War on Drugs is a war on people, and that we must not sit by idly while this failed public policy imprisons our brothers and sisters.

We've established a relationship with the city of Seattle that is very positive. The Seattle Hempfest was also instrumental in paving the way for Initiative 692, which legalized medical marijuana in the state of Washington and Initiative 75, which made possession of small amounts of cannabis the lowest police priority with the city limits of Seattle.

We charge no admission fee into the Seattle Hempfest, drawing all our operating fees from donations, sponsorship, water sales and vendor fees. So, if you come to the Fest, help to support us by throwing a few bucks in those directions.

I'd like to meet YOU!

Updates:

On the various contrivances of Hempfest '08 - November 15, 2008

Friends! What’s uppity, my peeps? Long time no THC. I have been – well, how do you say? -- in deep contemplation -- pondering the deep and foundational changes in the national political spectrum that have taken place since we last commiserated and whatnot. Here at Hempfest we are non-partisan, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t get behind our new Commander in chief in the hopes that we can see some change in the pot laws we can believe in.

We are working really hard here at Hempfest. Beneath the rock and roll glitz and glam of the world’s largest annual political rally are thousands of volunteer hours of sweat, muscle and grime. The hempiest hootenanny anywhere requires 12 months of planning meetings, work-parties, and concentrated determination. I’ll tell ya truly, when you are working for your freedom everyday is a work day. I want you to think about getting directly involved. We need all kinds of skill sets. If you have had training as a certified flagger, sign maker, data entry, webmaster, volunteer coordinator, stage hand, construction, security, first aid, caterer, graphic artist or just about anything else, we need you. Hell, it may be your freedom that you save.

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This MySpace stuff is somewhat foreign to me, Wade Graham, your resident Hempfest MySpace web guru and general maintenance head, as I a still getting used to these nerd-noggins! I still live in a ramshackle warren in an undisclosed location in underground Seattle, in an enclave reminiscent of the cliff dwellings that the ancient sages and Sadhus used to inhabit back in the days of Shiva. The chillum babas would smoke copious quantities of the finest ganja and charas. Oh, them were the days, man. It won’t be long before we can live and worship , medicate and meditate in freedom once again.

We just gotta get some real justice happening for fiber, food, and fuel freedom. Until, then we are gonna Hempfest like there’s no tomorrow! Hope to see you there.